12 bizarre real-life places that are stranger than science fiction

Science fiction is home to some fantastic societies, from Cloud City to Bartertown. But you doesn't have to leave reality for this—our own world has places so abnormal, they make alien societies seem ordinary. Here are 12 remarkable locations in which people once lived (and some still do). 1. Izu Islands Off the coast of Japan lies a series of volcanic islands. 2. Neft Daslari is a functional city built 34 miles from the nearest shore. 3. One of the creepiest places on Earth, Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel in the Czech Republic. 4. Temperatures in this Australian mining town reach well into broiling, so the opal miners who live there have built most of their town underground. 5. In 1962, a huge underground coal deposit ignited beneath the town of Centralia, Pa. 6. It's funny how something as boring as zoning regulations could lead to one of the most exciting office buildings on the planet. 7. Inside a spectacular Spanish church sits an enormous glass box. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Character Chart for Fiction Writers - EpiGuide.comIf you're a fiction writer -- whether you're working on a novel, short story, screenplay, television series, play, web series, webserial, or blog-based fiction -- your characters should come alive for your reader or audience. The highly detailed chart below will help writers develop fictional characters who are believable, captivating, and unique. Print this page to complete the form for each main character you create.6 Insane Discoveries That Science Cant ExplainWe like to feel superior to the people who lived centuries ago, what with their shitty mud huts and curing colds by drilling a hole in their skulls. But we have to give them credit: They left behind some artifacts that have left the smartest of modern scientists scratching their heads. For instance, you have the following enigmas that we believe were created for no other purpose than to fuck with future generations. The Voynich Manuscript The Mystery:

Creepy, Crusty, Crumbling: Illegal Tour of Abandoned Six Flags New Orleans [75 Pics]Hurricane Katrina killed this clown. According to the photographer, “An abandoned Six Flags amusement park, someone spray painted ‘Six Flags 2012 coming soon’ on the wall above the downed head. But they were clownin.’CNC carpentry: the 'selfsupportingframework'Two students working on load-bearing systems in the architecture department at Kassel University, Mischa Proll and Andreas Günther, have taken advantage of the wide range of design techniques available and breathed new life into a one-hundred-year-old construction concept. The traditional reziprocal frame consists of short wooden joists, whose ends are carpentry-joined to a surface structure. With consistant types of profiles, lengths of elements and positions of the knots on the axises, a dome shape is created.

Bizarre Suicide1994's MOST BIZARRE SUICIDE At the 1994 annual awards dinner given by the American Association for Forensic Science, AAFS President Don Harper Mills astounded his audience in San Diego with the legal complications of a bizarre death. Here is the story. "On 23 March 1994, the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound of the head. The decedent had jumped from the top of a ten- story building intending to commit suicide (he left a note indicating his despondency).

Ann VanderMeer: The 13 Of The Weirdest Short Stories Ever WrittenThe Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories [Tor, $29.99] contains 110 tales from the past 100 years of weird fiction collected in a single volume of over 750,000 words. Over 20 nationalities are represented and seven new translations were commissioned for the book. This is the largest collection of weird fiction ever housed between the covers of one volume. A compendium is neither as complete as an encyclopedia nor as baggy as a treasury.10 Weird and Mysterious Places on Earthdigg 1. Mystery Spot Mystery Sport is a tourist attraction near Santa Cruz, California, famous because of its disrespect to the laws of physics and gravity. The odd cabin, although seems like lying on flat ground, makes those who enter inside swinging all the time. The most probable theory that tries to explain this says that it’s all about “tilt-induced visual illusion.

National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 - Alan Taylor - In FocusNational Geographic is currently holding its annual photo contest, with the deadline for submissions coming up on November 30. For the past nine weeks, the society has been gathering and presenting galleries of submissions, encouraging readers to vote for them as well. National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose among its entries from 2011 for display here on In Focus. Gathered below are 45 images from the three categories of People, Places, and Nature, with captions written by the individual photographers. [45 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose:Glass door with a surprise - StumbleUponPosted on November 23, 2010 in Bizarre Rate this Post (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...

9 Strange Things Found While Searching for Waldo​Martin Handford's Where's Waldo books have been adored by kids the world over since the absent minded candy striped hitchhiker first made his debut in 1987. That being said, this is not an effort to defame the Waldo (or "Wally" depending on where you're reading this) books because frankly, life would be much less cool without them. Instead, our ambition is to point out some of their most noteworthy peculiarities -- things that we didn't necessarily find mentioned on the scrolls and postcards adorning each map, or on the checklists in the back of each book. No, these are the images and concepts that stayed with us long after we found Waldo, and for probably the wrong reasons.

23 Websites that Make Your Writing StrongerWe are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master. ~Ernest Hemingway How strong is your writing? No matter how good you think it is, there’s always room for improvement. In most cases, plenty of room. Luckily, there are some amazing websites that’ll help you improve your writing, and take it to the next level.World-Mysteries.comOn 6th July 1960 the U. S. Air Force responded to Prof.Animals' Eyes Up CloseHusky Suren Manvelyan, is a bit of a jack of all trades. He has a PhD in Theoretical Physics specializing in Quantum Chaos but has recently turned his attention to photographing the amazing detailed landscapes of eyes. The ones featured here are all from animals and includes a husky dog, snail, Siames cat, and even a crocodile as well as a few other creatures. With such close photos, one is able to see details such as the irises' color gradients, textures, patterns and even tiny blood vessels, causing these eyes to look like alien landscapes. Manvelyan has also photographed the human eye and photos of it can be found on his website.